Devas is a typical small
town of Madhya Pradesh, reeling under the immense burden of 4 years
of lack of rain. Here, during the Navratri Mela in April ‘03,
inaugurated by Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, thousands of local
and neighbouring residents were waiting to witness the much-awaited
samadhi of Mahayogi Pilot Baba, Mahamandaleshwar of the Juna Akhara.
Some three to four hundred saffron-clad sadhus quietly trickled
into the town over the several days preceding the samadhi. Sceptics,
academicians and media people, apart from Pilot Baba’s disciples,
had gathered in the town, coming from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and
from the small towns and villages of Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal
and elsewhere in India, as well as from far-flung Japan, Hawaii,
Spain, USA, Canada and Australia.

At noon
on 11th May, unmindful of the scorching heat, thousands had congregated
at the samadhi sthal to witness the arrival of Mahayogi Pilot Baba,
who greeted everyone in silence and blessed them with upraised hands
before entering the glass container in which he would take samadhi
for 96 hours with the sankalpa or resolution to enliven spiritual
consciousness. In the past year alone, several of Mahayogi Pilot
Baba's disciples have undertaken this practice publicly in Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, at his instance, to promote peace and
goodwill.

Mahayogi
Pilot Baba is a Himalayan Master from a lineage which traces its
ancestry to Kripacharyaji of the Mahabharata. Mahayogi Pilot Baba's
guru is Hari Baba, whose guru is the legendary master, Babaji. Mahayogi
Pilot Baba had already called Babaji to be present on this occasion.
Babaji arrived on 10th May, as pre-determined, and remained at Devas
during the entire period of the samadhi before returning to the
Himalayas.

Mahayogi
Pilot Baba went into samadhi at 1 pm on 11th April and emerged at
1 pm on 15th April in excellent health and spirit. During this time,
the curtains shielding the glass cubicle were opened six times a
day and on three occasions the glass jar revealed a seemingly empty
space since Pilot Babaji was in his sukshma sharir (subtle body)
at intervals and was therefore not visible to the mortal eye.

The size
of the air tight glass container was 9 ft X 9 ft X 9 ft. These dimensions
represent infinity. Pilot Babaji explained that air is the breath
or prana (life force). In samadhi one becomes prana, one with everything,
one with existence. Before going into samadhi, Pilot Babaji explained
that because of the extreme heat, his lifeless or inert body would
have to be protected while he was in samadhi. During samadhi, the
gross body is kept protected in a safe place, generally in cold
conditions which prevent decay. To prevent decomposition of the
body due to extreme heat there were three alternatives, including
cooling of the atmosphere around the glass chamber, which happened
on the first day when there were storm-like conditions and the temperature
dipped. Pilot Babaji said that he might occasionally have to enter
his body and palpate it. He said if necessary the glass chamber
would explode to let in fresh air. Alternatively, his gross body
would dematerialise. During the 96 hour samadhi, this was witnessed
on 3 occasions. This was recorded on film by several independent
film-makers and news agencies from India and overseas.

Yogic
science states that the body is composed of various layers. The
first layer is the sthula shariri (or gross body) which we see.
Beyond that are the 3 layers of the sukshma sharir (subtle body).
The final layer is that of the karana sharir (the causal sheath).
The gross body is a vessel for the subtle and causal bodies which
cannot be seen. Invisibility to the mortal eye was because of being
in a subtle dimension which forms the fifth axis to the four axes
of space and time. In samadhi a person is filled with effulgent
light. Matter in the body is maintained as energy. The scientific
version of this yogic science is Einstein's equation E = MC2
which says that matter and energy are one and the same and thus
matter can be converted into energy and vice versa.

Mahayogi
Pilot Baba has taken public samadhi several times in the past: jal
(underwater) samadhi, bhugarbha (underground) samadhi and samadhi
in air-tight containers. In a state of samadhi a yogi turns his
or her attention away from sense objects to reside within his inner
self. Samadhi is a unitive trance state. In deep samadhi the meditator
is able to voluntarily reduce vital functions such as respiration
and metabolism dramatically. Clinical studies of the practice have
documented that dramatic voluntary control over respiration and
metabolism is involved.

At Devas,
Mahayogi Pilot Baba’s samadhi was undertaken with the express
intent to spread the unique and well-guarded secrets of sankalpa,
to share the knowledge and wisdom of the Himalayan masters and teach
the techniques to promote awareness that lead to samadhi or universal
consciousness. Mahayogi Pilot Baba who has lived for decades in
the remote and inaccessible Himalayas, home of enlightened sages
from time immemorial, has made himself available to the world for
a period of time. Other Himalayan masters, including Babaji, have
commemorated this momentous occasion by their presence.

The reason
these yogic feats are now being shown in public is to awaken us
to recognise ourselves and remember the purpose of human life –
to undertake an inward journey that takes us back to the very core,
the joy of being.